mdvaden

Thought I posted this already, but guess not. In December, I heard about a 2nd tallest Christmas tree in California. Ended up measuring it as a tangent on my redwoods trip. Got 151.26 feet. Long story short, I triggered this article with a call to the Idaho newspaper. Never realized that within a week, that surveyors would be measuring the Idaho pine - LOL LINK: Ferndale Spruce vs. Coeur d'Alene Pine cdapress News Story The town of Ferndale is on the coast. Here's a page I put together, with a long note about their tree. Ferndale Historic Landmark in Humboldt County. It would be nice to find the real tree height merely to get the facts squared away. Unlikely that someone will sponsor us to do it. But who knows. We could do a better measure than most surveyors because high and low grade is subjective, and based on the tree's trunk. If the surveyors in Idaho were accurate, they could even be a full foot off and the Ferndale tree is now the tallest by any measurement. Even the old 150 foot number that's been lingering for a while.

Update: We went back to explore today what we did not have time for on the 3rd. Including today's repeat visit to southern Oregon, there are now 4 new world's tallest pines. All Ponderosa. 268.35' ~ 266' ~ 262' ~ 259.5' That's feet. The 268 one is just over 81 meters if that helps. And it looks like 8 new tallest known Ponderosa pines.

We want to get it noted, and possibly into the news stream because there is a timber harvest or sale tag within a couple of hundred feet. It may be that old growth can't be cut in these harvests, but we don't know for certain. And it would not hurt to protect a buffer for it if feasible. Seems that they could reallocate another comparable area for harvest if needed.

It's fun looking for the big and tallest trees. But its worth adding that 75% of it is that I simply enjoy forests in general, especially off the beaten path. Some of these spots we go into haven't seen human foot prints in months, years or maybe a full generation. And there is simply some great eye-candy in there even among the ferns and small stuff sometimes. Quiet, peaceful and relaxing. Surprising how there can be places to burn off 8,000 calories in a day and its still relaxing.

Here's a small pic for the thread too.

Just had a chance to head out with another Master of big tree hunting a couple of days ago. Ended up finding a Ponderosa pine that displaces the sugar pine as world's tallest pine. LINK World's Tallest Pine Tree Apparently a sugar pine that was comparable in California died. So this is not merely the tallest Ponderosa, but should be the tallest pine. Although, Taylor is confident that taller can or should be out there. For both Sugar and Ponderosa. Its a blast bushwhacking with he, or Atkins, because I gain more insight with every adventure.

Over here, the yellow books don't even make it in the front door. I walk them less than ten steps to the big recycle can in the trash can row. Its like yellow garbage that comes 3 times per year from a few companies.

Yeah ... I remember one from years ago, where the thorn broke off sideways under the skin over my index finger joint. I slit the skin slightly and pulled it with small vice grips. Fire thorn / Pyracantha or hawthorn occassionally get me by just puncture and cause some discomfort. Ever see the photo of Michael Fay's foot? LINK - Big sliver of wood embedded in foot photo He's the guy who did the near-300 day redwoods transect.

My wife's sister and her husband live in Spokane. They get a bit more snow than we do because eastern Washington and Oregon are colder. That's about 4 hours east of us. You would think people would know better and stay off the road when the snow and ice hard packs. I rarely drive on that stuff, and my concern is the other morons who think studded tires and 4 wheel drive are sufficient. In winter, I carry 2 sets of tire chains in my truck and don't drive on that kind of surface without 2 or all 4 tires chained. I love the set that has the V-bars welded to the links. One of the best segments in this video is the FedEx truck foreseeing the danger and darting off to the left for safety. Likely with a set of chains on too.

Inland is dryer and hotter in summer. So on top of some old growth and some logged areas, there have been forest fires too. Its kind of a mix. Patchy.

Its a serpentine mineral rock that give the color. I found a brochure at a Cobra Lily bog up the canyon that explained the water color. Below is a photo of the other river through the park in winter. Mill Creek posted earlier, merges with this Smith River near Stout Grove. These fishermen are flowing right past the campground and day use area. The second photo below is also the Smith River about 10 miles upstream from this redwood park. There are a few small redwoods, but the forest becomes pine, incense cedar, Douglas fir, madrone, oak and others all mixed together.

BTW, those 2 Ganoderma I posted pics of above, were not the same, but on different trunks. The pic with Beranek's book being held by a "Little Jer" was at a cafe pub in Klamath: called The Country Club. Small hole in the wall place with good food. Its right across the street froma motel called the Ravenwood. Gerald Beranek had mentioned last year, staying at the Ravenwood Motel himself. Glad I tried it out. Clean, well decorated and very affordable. And just 5 minutes from one of the big redwood parks. Here's a fisheye lens pic of the room.

Now ... I'd been itching to get more hiking in down there since the last half of November, but some work, our son's new job and a rash of big rain storms left no opportunity for me. Then last week, I saw what looked like a 3 day gap in the rain. Expected overcast and dry, but it turned out to be like gloriously sunny with popcorn clouds in the distance. Not only is winter awesome to hike the redwoods, but the atmosphere was maybe the best I've ever seen this last week. Light morning mist with suns rays, mineral filled creeks showing blue color between the trees. Seasonal brooks could be heard throughout the forest. Here's a few images: my new 12-24mm lens remained on my camera almost the whole time.

Just dropped in. And saw someone linked you to where I used the image. Here's another of it. Also, in the same park - Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park - not far from where that photo was taken with my son, another nice one was seen when I hiked with my brother last winter. So here's a repost of the previous larger + the other one with my brother looking up at it. Both were taken in winters.

One thing that came to mind was whether or not forest fires may have anything to do with it due to flames and heat doing something to the tissue over the roots. Although there were fires in the north redwood parks too, where no albino redwoods have been reported. Near Avenue of the Giants, a couple are in close proximity like barely a mile apart. And with so few existing, that seems like quite a coincidence considering the vast stretch of redwood acreage up and down the coastline.

Here's one that's about 12 meters tall. They don't get much taller than that. I don't think that they are "parasitic" as some folks occasionally call them. Because they seem to be a growth produced by the parent old growth redwood. Not like mistletoe that begins anew and attaches to oaks and the like. From Redwood Central -

Ahhhh .... nothing like watching a video of your own back yard - LOL It's remarkable tree-wise out here. Its possible to stand beneath the Giant Sequoias, see some Coastal Redwoods, view some of Oregon's coastal forest, and step foot in the Olympic National Park, all within 2 to 3 days. And about 4 to 7 days to really see a lot of each. I liked that Bigleaf maple too, around the 3.00 mark in the video.

It was pretty cold here in Oregon too. We just got a shot of what would be considered colder than usual January temperatures during any winter. Rarely do we see the teens. And we just got down to 18 degree F. That would be (minus) - 7.7 degrees C. Now we are back above freezing a little bit.

Sounds like its like the oldest known stump, or oldest known root system.Other species' ages would change dramatically if we applied the same approach to age. Take this cathedral redwood below. The middle trunk which is broken and hidden back behind, had to be one of the biggest in the park. What ... maybe 2000 year old back then? 2500 years? More?But then add the basal sprouts from its roots that followed. How many centuries old are those? How many years does that add? Then was the center stem actually a basal sprout of another parent redwood prior? Like 2000 B.C.? There's got to be some examples that go back 6000 to 10000 years if we want to include oddities and clonal growth. That spruce could be the oldest carbon dating-wise. But I like to think of tree age in relation to how old an existing above ground trunk is.

Spent a few more days in the redwoods. 1 for pleasure, and 3 for pleasureable working. Here's photo from Stout Grove. Actually, this is one of about a dozen I'm going to make available for 11 x 14 prints. Had one done today and it looks great.

Is Godaddy popular over there? I use that one for mine, and also when I feel like doing domain searches just to see what's taken or available. Almost registered a name last week "LandscapeVerdict.com" But decided not to do a website where landscapes are photographed and rated. Thought it might cause friction amongst professional designers and landscapers. If anyone want to take the idea and run with it, there you go. Landscape Verdict dot com.

I like the style of fence shown in the OP pics. Can imagine kids standing on the sturdy practical frames. Those are rather long gates. Standard size or custom?

How much of that gross weight was flesh?

Ended up getting the Canon T2i. Its going to take a little more effort to learn the controls on this one than my last two smaller cameras. Some is similar, but plenty is not. Dished-out for an extra battery too. Will have to remember to bring the charger when I go places now. Thanks again for all the tips and feedback. Several replies led to reading about a lot of other stuff worth learning.

My first thought was close. 8.0 ton. Just my Chev extended cab truck is just under 3 ton loaded (6,000 pounds). Alone. That truck is bigger. Probably has 2 tons of chips. Close to 2 ton in the chipper. Then all the gear, fuel, etc..